For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.

May God protect me from gloomy saints.

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.

To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.

I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.

The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.

We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.

It is no small misfortune and disgrace that, through our own fault, we neither understand our nature nor our origin.

God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person.

Reasoning culminates in gaining knowledge.

Try to look at causes and solve problems. Do not concentrate on military solutions. Do not seek military solutions. Terrorism is a political problem. Seek political solutions. Diplomacy works.

Meanness is a monster that usurps your self-control because you cowardly allow it to conquer you.

I propose that a teacher's pay be tied to merit, not tenure. And I propose that a teacher's employment be tied to performance, not just showing up.

Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.

The world is vast and meant for wandering. There is always somewhere else to go.

Nature is more depth than surface, the colours are the expressions on the surface of this depth; they rise up from the roots of the world.

Music's always been really cathartic. It's the best drug for me to get away from the everyday pressures just for a second via a good song.

Be an artist. Don't say it, do it.